Feb. 18, 2003

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 11th-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team fell just short of an upset Tuesday, Feb. 18 as top-ranked UCLA defeated the Wildcats, 4-3 at the Louisville Tennis Club.

UCLA opened up the match by capturing the doubles point. Rodrigo Grilli and Marcin Matkowski defeated Karim Benmansour and Matt Emery by an 8-3 count. Tobias Clemens and Lassi Ketola followed suit, defeating Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten, 8-4. After the doubles point was clinched, the final doubles match between UCLA’s Erfan Djahangiri and Alberto Francis and Kentucky’s Evan Austin and Alex Hume was suspended.

A battle of two of the ITA’s top-15 took place at No. 1 as Kentucky’s Jesse Witten fell to UCLA’s Tobias Clemens, 7-6(2), 6-4. At No. 2, Karim Benmansour rebounded from a sub-par first set to defeat UCLA’s Marcin Matkowski, 0-6, 6-4, 6-0. Evan Austin notched another victory for the Wildcats in defeating Rodrigo Grilli at No. 3, 7-6(0), 7-6(1).Rahim Esmail, at No. 4, tied up his match with UCLA’s Efran Djahangiri after dropping the first set but fell in the end, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. At No. 5, Lassi Ketola topped UK’s Matt Emery, 6-1, 7-5, and at No. 6, Kentucky freshman Alex Hume, now off to a 19-8 start, overall, knocked off Chris Lam, 7-6(5), 6-3.

Kentucky will return to action Thursday as it plays host to the 2003 USTA/ITA National Indoor Team Championship. The Wildcats will take on the seventh-ranked Stanford Cardinal at approximately 4 p.m. at the Louisville Tennis Club.

The tournament runs from this Thursday, Feb. 20 through this Sunday, Feb. 23. Kentucky will play on at least the first three days of the event, regardless of the outcome of its match Thursday. Admission is $5 for an entire day of first-class collegiate tennis and admission is free for USTA members and children under eighteen.